Critical Mess: Spoilers and Censure via Row Three

Yesterday morning, I found myself wracking my brain about how I would review Tickled, the Hot Docs and Sunday film festival success about competitive endurance tickling and the dark truth behind it. In the midst of my wracking, I found Matt Zoller Seitz’s article on spoiler culture, and proper etiquette. Immediately, my brain lit up. Unfortunately, I was on the bus on my way home from getting cat food – ah, the exciting life of me. But I managed to barge back into my apartment, give my boyfriend a perfunctory kiss goodbye as he left for work, and plunked myself at my computer to regurgitate the onslaught happening in my skull.

Such was my experience, and that of conceivably every other media outlet, in regards to this years Sundance and Hot Docs sensation. An outstanding documentary about the seedy underbelly of competitive endurance tickling, David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s documentary is a superb investigative thriller.

But I can’t tell you why.

Let me start off by saying that this film truly is, without reproach, outstanding. It will leave you incredulous, baffled, and have you on the edge of your seat. It is insightful, intelligently constructed, and eye opening. The questions it answers seem to leave more questions bubbling below the surface – the sign of a successful documentary.

While some publications, such as The Hollywood Reporter, have opted to break down the film, plot point by plot point, publicists involved in its distribution have been diligently trying to put perhaps excessive boundaries on what gets written. I have been asked to write carefully, and to explicitly avoid talking about certain reveals. Meanwhile, suggestions were made that I reconsider my interview questions, the answers of which may reveal too much.

What this all comes down to is a major issue now plaguing media critics, columnists and other surveyors of cultural documents – **THE SPOILER**.